President’s Messages

DECEMBER 2017 / JANUARY 2018

As another year rolls to a close, we can reflect on what you and your community association has achieved in the past year as well as on some of the unique features of Varsity View and Grosvenor Park that make our neighbourhoods such great places to live.

First, our achievements: One of the great things VVCA does is organize a wide variety of outdoor and indoor activities. This is mostly due to the dedication of community member Barb Giles, who has seen many VVCA Presidents come and go while she quietly and efficiently organizes programming. The past year’s activities include Tae Kwon Do, badminton, conversational Spanish, Jazzercise, yoga, basketball, soccer and several others including our new activity for ‘Run, Jump, Throw’ (give it a try if you have a 6-12 year old). In addition, Greg and Kenton are once again getting our rink ready for hockey and community skating.

VVCA has been active in supporting playground improvements. We provided a start-up donation for a new playground at Brunskill School and just recently added a final contribution that will hopefully allow the new playground to be completed in the coming months. Thanks Anu, Maya, and the many community members who supported our new school playground. Meanwhile Roger Williamson, who is also our web guy, has been working with the Nutana Community Association to get park improvements at the Albert Rec Unit funded. The City of Saskatoon replaced the play structures at the end of summer (thank you!). We are raising funds for expanded recreational feature adjacent to the children’s play area. Lastly, we completed fund raising for Raoul Wallenberg park (greatly helped by the congregation Agudas Israel). Sadly, our dream could not be accomplished within budget when the project was tendered. Fortunately, a local builder, Mark Bobyn, has come to our rescue with a less expensive but equally pleasing (in my humble opinion) plan that should be built this coming Spring.

The big news on the Civics front is that residents with the help of VVCA and enthusiastic residents, succeeded in getting sufficient signatures for the extension of the Residential Parking Zone for the length of 15th Street and adjacent connecting streets. I went to City Council and spoke in favor of this extension and council voted to approve the extension. New signs will likely go up in the New Year. Council has also committed to an overall review of parking to come up with a consistent and unified approach. City Council has taken up one of VVCA’s suggestions and signed a memorandum with the University to jointly tackle parking. We look forward to this partnership to solve some parking constraints that affect our residents and neighbours.

The other news is the future relocation of Fire Hall 5 from Central Avenue in Sutherland to the College Quarter development, and the ongoing construction of a new fire hall on Clarence Avenue to replace current Fire Hall 3 on Taylor Street and York Avenue. These moves give broader emergency services coverage to a larger part of the city. The plan for the new Fire Hall 5 will double the size of current Hall 5 from 7,000 to 16,000 square feet, so that aerial equipment can be positioned more centrally and backup fire trucks can be bought indoors.

Okay, back to trees. We do not hear much about the features that make a community, and particularly ours, an attractive place to live. I am the first to say that the dedication of residents is paramount. But there are other features too. Why do we like to live in Varsity View or Grosvenor Park? Could one be the trees? Several interesting studies suggest trees are part of the answer. Canadians who live on city blocks with at least 10 trees are healthier. More green space decreases mortality by about 10% compared with residents of less leafy areas. There are also economic benefits to trees. Want to increase the value of your house by 4 to 15%? Make sure it is close to a mature tree. Lastly, trees remove large amounts of moisture from the soil. A study in urban Minneapolis indicates that about 10,000 L of water is removed annually by mature elm and pine trees (yes, the amount varies with species etc.). For some residences in our area about a quarter of the water from rain and snow may be removed by the trees on the lot. The impact could be even higher because trees remove most of the water in summer when our incidence of flooding is highest. Also, Spring runoff often occurs over frozen ground and is dealt with by the sewers and does not add as much soil water. An interesting question is whether the recent illegal removal of trees along Saskatchewan Crescent will contribute to future subsidence issues along the street and whether flooding in some parts of the city is partly due to deforestation in other parts of the city.

Well, let’s be thankful for the benefit our trees bring. I hope you have decorated your tree, real or otherwise, and that you have a great festive season according to your custom. To all who have volunteered to help make Varsity View and Grosvenor Park such a great place to live, a special thanks to you, and a prosperous New Year to all.

SEPTEMBER 2017

Greetings Community Members,

The last few months have seen the election of a new VVCA executive, progress on expanding the Residential Parking Permit Zone, community clean up, public consultation about future development within the University, huge progress on fund raising for improvements for our local parks, a redevelopment proposal for the corner of Clarence and College, a great Spring Social, the successful conclusion of another year of indoor and outdoor programming, and preparation for our most costly event of the year – Movie in the Park.

Let’s start with our new executive. Our President-elect, is Annika Anderson. An ICU nurse who has just been very successful in fund raising for Movie in the Park. Thank you, Greystone Homes and Pawluk Homes for your sponsorship. See newsletter for more Movie in the Park details.Ted Stensrud has moved in to the position of Secretary, vacated by Annika Anderson. Ted is the nicest tax man I know (I only know one – no offence Ted). You may know him better as organizer of our Spring Social (and also witty MC).
Our treasurer remains filled by one of several capable lawyers in our association – Anne Hardy. Anne somehow seems like she has always been rooted in our neighborhood.
We have a number of coordinators and here I tremble lest I forget anyone. Katie Pendleton is our newsletter editor. She leapt into the position last year and we have been grateful ever since. Barb Giles lives opposite our delightful President Murray Park and can often be seen running herd on her daycare kids (and quite often others who collect in her shadow for added security). She is responsible for all our indoor programs, everything from registration to payment and finding new programs. She is also the go-to person in our association for help on just about any matter. Barb is assisted by Maya Wagner who somehow manages to find time to help VVCA and Brunskill school in between work and running a busy family.
Outdoors we have the mythical Jason Kovitch as basketball coordinator. Jason does a fantastic job of keeping basketball organized. Niran Harrison has been doing a great job taking care of planning and organizing our community soccer teams. Our rink r…., sorry, rink coordinators are Kenton Shynkaruk and Greg McDonald. This fantastic team has done a wonderful job in keeping our rink repaired and functional.James Perkins, our much-appreciated past President has moved to Community Gardens, where he can be found on sunny weekends getting the pulse of the community (no he does not grow pulses- an in joke for the aggies). Our capable and committed equipment manager is Robb Larmer, and on our Civics committee we have Rob Peterson Wakeman, Allen Woo and Holly Ann Knott, all committed supporters of our community. Lisa Kirkham is our official representative to the board of the Albert Community Center, which is the site of our next Spring Social May 5th, 2018. Our social coordinators are Ted and Mark Prebble. You already know about Ted. Mark Prebble is a long-time supporter of our community; he has a special responsibility for the Raoul Wallenberg Park improvement which is close to becoming a reality. Lastly, we have Roger Williamson who runs our website, where this newsletter is also posted. Roger’s help on design and communications is very much appreciated.

Not on our executive, but deserving of special mention for all the work she puts into our community, including taking time for our association meetings, is Cynthia Block our new, and very committed councillor.

Here are some of the things your VVCA has accomplished so far this year:
– VVCA committed $15 000 towards the Brunskill Playground replacement, which laid the foundation for raising $200 000. Thank you to all who donated and especially Anu and Maya for doing all the hard work. The fundraising committee is very close to meeting their goal.
– The upgrade to Raoul Wallenberg park is currently funded, but not to the extent desired by those tendering to do the job (i.e. tenders have come in too high.) Work continues to bring this project to fruition
– We have made some progress in regards to parking in our neighbourhood. A group of committed volunteers including the very capable Joanna Smith and Rene Chapman succeeded in petitioning residents of 15th Street and some adjacent streets. I anticipate this will result in approval of a small extension of the Residential Parking Permit Zone at the next council meeting.
- The Community Clean Up that was held on May 27/17 once more succeeded in remo-ing two dumpsters of fire hazard and other unsightliness from our neighborhood. Thanks to all who helped with this effort.
- Our Spring Social was held at Louis’ Loft in May. This event is always a great mi-ture of good food, community insights (Cynthia Block gave a great speech), funny commentary, meeting old and new neighbors, and dance (banned in favor of alternative entertainment at the next social on ac-count as I am one of the few who dances).
– Civics: the big news is that the lot at the corner of Clarence and College has changed hands. North Prairie Developments is thinking of redeveloping this as a non-conforming high rise. A meeting will be held for community input when planning permission is sought from the City. I en-courage you to attend and have your views heard.

MARCH 2017

Your community association has extensively considered the parking problems in our neighborhood over these last few months. I met with Genevieve Russell, Special Projects Manager for Parking and Permits, and Justine Marcoux, Transportation Engineer, at the City of Saskatoon. In addition, there have been several meetings with our City Councillor, Cynthia Block, to discuss parking problems.

There are many parking problems in our area. Too many to be tackled at the same time. The consensus is to deal with parking problems one by one, starting with the blocks bordered North to South by 15th and 12th Streets and East to West by Cumberland and Clarence Avenues. This is a fairly large area and will require the time and support of our residents in this area to canvass their block and collect the required signatures on the approved form. The community association is hoping that at least one resident on each block will champion the petition, attend a briefing meeting on how to get the required information, and canvass their block door-to-door. I hope you are interested and that you will email me at president@vvcasaskatoon.com to let me know of your willingness to help with the petition. Not everyone in the area reads the newsletter, so if you know of other interested residents, please pass this message along The steps we will have to go through are outlned below:

RESIDENTIAL PARKING: HOW TO CREATE A CONTROLLED PARKING ZONE

A controlled, or Residential Permit Parking (RPP) Zone, exists in our neighborhood with approximate borders of College Drive to the North, Clarence Avenue to the west, 15th Street to the south and Cumberland to the East. This restricts non-residents to short term parking (typically less than 2 hours) but allows permit holders (residents who have applied for and received a permit) to park throughout the day subject to the usual restrictions on long term parking (must be less than 36 hours etc.). A brief summary of the procedure to have your street in Varsity View or Grosvenor declared as a Residential Parking Permit Zone is:

Submit a petition from residents in the area for the new RPP zone. To be successful the petition must have:
• At least 70% support from the residents on each block face i.e. one side of a street block.
• Only one resident per household or housing unit e.g. a legal basement suite, can sign the petition. A resident is a person who lives in a housing unit and can provide proof of that. This includes tenants who are renting.
• The petition asks for the name, address, and phone number of each person who signs. It also asks if at least one member of the household will purchase a RPP permit at a cost of $25 annually.
• Residents must provide contact information.

The process to expand a RPP zone can take time, Parking Services encourages residents to coordinate petitioning so that multiple blocks can be included in one request. Petitioning for multiple blocks will also prevent the displacement of parking congestion and reduce the need for future petitions.

Following submission of the petition, City Administration springs into action. They verify the identity and residential address of the petitioners and conduct a parking survey. At least 25% of vehicles parked in the area during the day must be transient parkers (non-resident vehicles) and there must be significant parking pressure.

If both of the above criteria are met a report is submitted to City Council to seek approval of the proposed RPP zone expansion and amend the Residential Parking Program Bylaw #7862.

JANUARY 2017

As I walk around our neighborhood one of the major issues is parking. Residents are concerned they cannot park near their home, tradespeople have difficultly finding parking to perform needed repairs, there is no room for visitors to park, and back alleyways are obstructed by delivery and builders’ trucks. In the residential parking zone close to the University, the concerns are around lack of parking on weekends. From 15th Street south, work day parking is the problem. It is not completely clear who is parking in our neighborhood. Some tell stories of students parking outside their house and catching a bus up to Place Riel, others think RUH employees are an important factor. Another factor is the increased housing density in our area. Every time a lot is subdivided we lose front street parking to curb cuts and/or gain more cars.

The VVCA Civics committee is working to understand our options to address our parking problems. In October we met to discuss this issue with two University of Saskatchewan representatives James Cook (Manager of Business Opportunities and our College Quarter liaison) and Quintin Zook (Director of Consumer Services). We learned that during the work week, all University parking spaces are occupied and that there is a waiting list for daytime on-campus parking. On the weekends the University has spare parking capacity. There are several lower cost parking options for students, typically in the more peripheral areas of campus. Faculty and staff have access to more centrally located lots as part of their parking plan. We plan on meeting with student representatives and RUH to get their take on the parking situation. Ultimately, if our neighboring employees are unable to help, one option will be to apply for an extension of the residential parking plan to cover a wider area and longer hours. Another suggestion is to allow residents to sell off-road parking; this private enterprise approach would require architectural guidelines to ensure that parking was appropriately hidden and landscaped. Finally, I hope that the planning department will insist that new construction follows existing by-laws and that parking exemptions for new builds are no longer approved.

Another change that is likely to affect our community is the development of College Quarter. The new hotel is already under construction. Other plans call for sporting areas, mixed residential and commercial construction. Development will remove green space, remove campus parking lots, increase the number of cars in our area and bring young families; changes that could impact parking, schools and parks in Varsity View. Another problem will be how the City and the school system get money to provide these services as University lands are exempt from municipal taxes. James Cook will give an overview of College Quarter development at January 18th at 7 pm in the library at Brunskill school. I hope you will attend as it will be an opportunity to get answers to your concerns and opportunities that this development brings to our neighbourhoods.

An interesting overview of the demographics of Varsity View can be found by searching for neighborhood profiles, 2015, City of Saskatoon. The data was recently updated. Both Grosvenor Park (12 units/hectare) and Varsity View (15 units/ hectare) have a greater housing density than the whole City (11 units/hectare). We have a much greater pressure on our parks than the whole City; there are 386, 487 and 235 people/hectare of park for Grosvenor, Varsity View and the whole City respectively. In Varsity View the majority of dwelling units are rented (41% home ownership), Grosvenor has 56% home ownership and the whole City has 66%. Taken together this information suggests there is a lot of pressure on our neighborhoods and it is fantastic that the efforts of our residents make this a sought-after area. Throughout the City, more people walk to work than take the bus. We excel at walking, 25% and 17% of us walk to work in Varsity View and Grosvenor respectively, compared with a City average of 5%.

Finally, I would like to thank our many volunteers. Above all it is the people that make Varsity View a great community. Our volunteers run sports, arts and educational programs for everyone from school children to retirees. Our volunteers organize many community events including Movie in the Park, skating at our rink and our Spring Community Dinner. Our volunteers remove junk form the back alleys and provide community gardening. Our volunteers fundraise for new park equipment and keep the City informed of development concerns. Our volunteers print newsletters, post on social media and deliver community updates door to door. Thanks to all and to all of you a very Happy Christmas, Festive Season and/or New Year.

SEPTEMBER 2016

The last few months have seen major decisions about the rezoning of corner lots, a Sum theater produc-tion, our Spring social, fundraising for park improvements, and a full activities program. Upcoming events include the start of our fall activities, movie in the park, addressing parking problems, and park improvements.

Corner Lot rezoning: City planning held information sessions with local community associations located within Circle Drive. The purpose was to gather views about rezoning corner lots to allow four-unit dwellings. The Varsity View Community Association meeting was held at Albert Community Centre following a neighborhood-wide drive to alert residents about the meeting. Approximately 75 people attended, and there was a vigorous discussion about the potential merits and problems of four-unit dwellings. Meeting attendees voted overwhelmingly against rezoning. City planning considered the views of all the community associations and decided that the potential benefits of increased housing density were outweighed by the problems. These included loss of light, front yard gardens and privacy, along with potential drainage problems and decreased property values. For the moment at least, blanket rezoning of corner lots for four-unit dwellings is not going to be allowed. This decision owes a lot to the good turn out at the meeting and our community sharing similar concerns on this issue. Thanks to the community for the great turn out and for making your views known. Our next major initiative is likely to be parking (i.e. the lack of it). Your in-volvement and support will be critical.

Spring Social: our spring social was held at Louis (thank you Ted). We enjoyed great music, a great talk from Alice Kuipers (born in Britain) about why she and her husband Yann Martel (from Montreal) decided to raise their family in Saskatoon. Our open spaces, ease of getting to work and the joys of our neighborhood (okay… Nutana across the road) all got mentions. Charlie Clark, our councillor, gave a short talk, won the 50/50 and graciously donated his winnings to fund park improvements in our neighbourhood.

Park improvements: we currently have three park improvement projects supported by VVCA. Improvements to Raoul Wallenberg park by adding a reflective garden and better landscaping is the longest standing project. It is a joint effort between Mark Prebble for the VVCA, the Congregation Judas Israel and the City of Saskatoon. Plans and fundraising are mostly completed. We hope to see ground breaking soon. The newest project is the renovation of Albert Recreational Park. The playground equipment no longer meets current standards. We support an ambitious project led by Rahul Mainra of the Nutana Community Association to renovate and reinvigorate the play areas for the enjoyment of community families. Lastly we are fully committed to playground improvements at Brunskill School. Plans call for the old wooden play structures to be replaced by a safer and even more fun play area. This effort is led by the volunteers on the Brunskill Home and School parents’ association. We have a unique collection of parks and pocket parks and their improvement will enhance our neighborhood for families and friends. Previously, VVCA has supported park improvements at President Murray Park and today these are a widely enjoyed and appreciated part of our community.

Theater in the Park: Traditionally VVCA supports two outdoor entertainment events over the summer. Sum Theater put on a production of Little Badger and the Fire People in July at Grosvenor Park. They always put on a great performance which entertains both kids and adults. We will once again host our Movie in the Park at 7pm, September 10 at President Murray Park; I look forward to seeing you there.

Fall Activities: Our fall activities program starts with registration on September 6th and 8th from 7 to 8:30 pm, at Brunskill School – thanks to Barb Giles and all who generously give their time as coaches, organizers, coordinators, and instructors.

MAY 2016

As new President of Varsity View Community Association I have a great respect for the work that our community and community association does to make Varsity View a safe and desirable place to live. It is also clear that the City relies on us for some of the basic amenities that we sometimes take for granted.

A recent example is the neighbourhood cleanup organized by Mark Prebble with the help of the City. Although we only managed to visit about half the back alleys we removed four skips of trash. Some of it was a fire hazard, all of it an eyesore. For those of you whose alleys we missed the City has a new site for compostable waste. The East Compost Depot is now located off Highway 5 at Zimmerman Road, east of the former Sundown Drive-in; it is open Thurs-Mon, 11-5.

Another example of community improvement is Cathy Watt’s championing of the solar compactor in President Murray Park (the one with all the Spruce trees). Now we have a reliable receptacle for waste that emails the City when it is full and needs emptying.

One of the most important contributions is the various sporting, physical activities, crafts and self-improvement programs organized by the community association. These help both the physical and mental health of the community. A special thanks to Barb Giles, Jason Kovitch and Colin for organizing these.

One of the major challenges for the coming year is going to be funding of three park improvements in or adjacent to Varsity View. These will collectively cost the better part of a million dollars and the community associations of Nutana and Varsity View support these initiatives. Although some of the money will be raised from grants, the generosity of residents is likely to play the major role in fund raising. This is needed to allow the new safer playgrounds and park improvements to be built at Albert Park, Brunskill School and Raoul Wallenberg Park.

One positive note is the City finding funds for new pedestrian pavements. One of the shortcomings identified in the local area plan was the need for better North-South communications. Adding pavement to at least one side of all our streets would make them safer and easier to navigate.

On the Civics front we will be looking for better solutions to our perennial parking problems and working to develop a reasonable stance to the Cities’ proposal to consider rezoning corner lots to allow 4 housing units i.e. condos on corners.

I know that VVCA and the community has many dedicated and committed volunteers and I look forwards to working with everyone to keep Varsity View a great place to live. I look forwards to meeting you over the summer, perhaps at Sum Theater (Grosvenor Park, July 12th, 7 pm) or our movie night in September.

SEPTEMBER 2015

My message to you for Fall 2015 draws again from Sum Theatre’s 2015 performance of Hercules (special thanks to Joel and crew for their performance in Albert Park for our residents!). Their empowering
and family-friendly performances have quickly become a staple of summer life in Varsity View/Grosvenor Park.

The final scene of the play has Hercules and all the children in the audience becoming ‘heroes’ and forming a ‘brick brigade’ to rebuild the town. I’m still gobsmacked at how the cast so quickly and
easily engages 80-100 children they’ve never met each year in a different task and gets them to cooperate! It’s an apt comparison to the pitching in I see each year in VVCA as volunteers of all ages and backgrounds come together for the common good.

Our VVCA ‘heroes’ provide youth sport, culture and literacy programs, adult recreation opportunities and advocate for the interests of Varsity View/Grosvenor Park in civic matters. Our partnerships with local organizations including Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, Congregation Agudas Israel, Albert Community Centre and Nutana Community Association have already, or are leading to, new opportunities for our residents to enjoy a vibrant community.

If you’re not familiar with our programs, projects, or rich history, I would encourage you to check us out at http://vvcasaskatoon.com/

As I prepare to move to the role of Past-President this spring, I would like to again extend my continued thanks to our volunteer heroes that make our programs and projects possible.Regards, James Perkins, President

JANUARY 2015

It takes a town to build a town to make a town a town,
It takes a town to build a town to keep a town a town…

My message to you this month started one nice fall day in the backyard as my 4-and-a-half year old daughter (who knows more residents than I do now that she’s in preschool) began to chant the theme song (above) of Sum Theatre’s “The Pied Piper” she saw months earlier in President Murray Park. Her ‘town’ in the sandbox was coming along quite nicely, such that she didn’t notice my look of shock at hearing that tune again, out of time and context.

The shocking part of this intro is that she gets it (with full credit to Sum Theatre of course). Our ‘town’ is our community, and that’s where the magic really happens. And it takes all of us.

Given our family’s professions and volunteer activities, we talk a lot about helping people and pitching in to help make good stuff happen. But to understand that a community is richest when everyone is engaged through neighbours helping neighbours, a bit of volunteering or charitable donation is a valuable gem of knowledge to pass on to our children. I am always proudest talking with my daughter about the projects and advocacy VVCA has taken on for the community’s benefit.

Looking at the milestones of our recent successes – the Local Area Plan (LAP), advocacy for proper infill guidelines and sensible traffic solutions, a wonderful partnership unfolding with Congregation Agudas Israel to enhance Raoul Wallenberg Park, and positive youth & adult programming almost every night of the week, I’d say our ‘town’ is a rather fine looking ‘town’ indeed.

This year at our AGM, we will be looking for some new ‘townsfolk’ to get involved to keep our town a town. Have an interest in community issues? Want to boost your resume or learn a new leadership skill? Join us at our April AGM and see how you can help.

Special thanks to those that help build and keep (up) the ‘town’ of Grosvenor Park/Varsity View through our community association and other community-based organizations.

SEPTEMBER 2014

The Joy of Community Service

As a long-time resident of Varsity View and Grosvenor Park with several years of involvement in our community association, I often talk about my volunteer commitments which leads to the people to ask, “so….that’s fun?”

The question, (in its many forms) doesn’t come that sharply of course; it is always more oblique but does show the speaker’s curiosity why volunteers do what they do. With family commitments, extra-curricular lessons, and our jobs, it is a valid question.

My first answer is always the volunteers. VVCA has a diverse group of talented people that are a pleasure to work with. Volunteering with them has given me opportunities to work with wonderful individuals outside my field and build friendships with our families.

The second part of my answer is the programs and projects. With the organization’s broad mandate to improve the quality of life for residents in our neighbourhood, it’s such a rewarding accomplishment to be able to create a new program for children, host a new rec sport, or start a new tradition like Movie in the Park. Sitting with the VVCA executive or a potential partner group, I often ask “why can’t we do this?” and know that some elbow grease and problem solving is the only thing we need to do to make amazing things happen.

By this point, (if my listener hasn’t drifted off to the artichoke dip), I share that the third aspect is the community. Thank yous from our neighbours and community make a big difference to us and we are thrilled when our programs are full or there’s a field of attendees for Theatre in the Park. Support from the community in terms of gratitude, recognition and financial support through donations is a huge motivator to our volunteers and I encourage you to thank them next time your family uses our programs or attends our events.

As we move forward this fall with our partners on park improvements in Raoul Wallenberg Park and Albert Recreation Centre, we hope we can continue to count on the support of our community to make our neighbourhood a better place.

SPRING 2014

Special Projects Update: Making Dreams a Reality in Varsity View and Grosvenor Park

Firstly, a big thank you to those of you who shared your views of our community the past few months. By consulting residents through dialogue, our website, and email, we built a clear picture of what residents would support in our community. Your feedback
put a strong emphasis on enriching public spaces, which is certainly a theme we will embrace.

Projects we are advancing through proposals, partnerships, and grant requests:

Playground upgrades to Brunskill School (in partnership with the school community).

A litter reduction project.

A heritage trail and signage.

As grants and partnerships are finalized in the coming months, we will tell residents more about these projects and will be asking for your financial support to enhance the beauty, uniqueness, and opportunity of our neighbourhood.

I encourage you to join us at our AGM April 16th to share your views on these ideas for our community (and also to discuss a slight change to our constitution, intended to bring the length of notice of our AGM in line with The Non-Profit Corporations Act).

Get involved in making a difference!

JANUARY 2014

Making Dreams a Reality in Varsity View and Grosvenor Park

VVCA is excited to announce that we are considering our next major project(s) for Grosvenor Park/ Varsity View neighbourhoods. On the heels of our success with the playground improvements in President Murray Park and energized by a strong core of volunteers, we are eager to gather feedback from residents about what projects would best benefit our community and fulfill our mandate of improving quality of life for our residents.

Within the themes of promoting active lifestyles, building positive aesthetics, and engaging young families, we have come up with a number of potential projects for our community. Projects should bring our community together, provide a long-term asset to our community, and build pride in the great community we live in. Several of the projects have potential partners or grant opportunities we can utilize to maximize the success of the project.

How You Can Help:
The projects proposed are listed in the January 2014 The View newsletter with a short write up of how they are envisioned at this point. As residents in our neighbourhood have a wide array of worldly experiences and skills, we ask that you comment on which projects resonate the most with you and for ideas on how to make them world-class. We will be taking comments at our next registration night, January 21th, and gathering feedback via our email projects@vvcasaskatoon.com. After a period of public consultation, VVCA will announce our next major project(s) at our annual Louis’ event in the spring.

It is an exciting time to be living in our community and I am eager to hear each of you share your best and brightest ideas!

SPRING 2013

Infill Development & Urban Planning

The City of Saskatoon is developing a Neighbourhood Infill Strategy, concerning Infill within built-up areas of the City. This is of particular concern to VVCA, especially given the growth of the University’s College Quarter development, arguably the City’s largest infill experiment. After an initlal Public Workshop in December, 2012, the City is currently seeking input on recommendations for a draft strategy, addressing the following:

We encourage participation. If you are unable to go to the discussion, please review the materials, which will be available after the meeting on the City’s website, and feel free to submit comments online.

As part of VVCA’s continued involvement in infill and visionary development, it is supporting a speaking event in partnership with the Regional and Urban Planning (RUP) program of the College of Geography and Planning at the University of Saskatchewan and like-minded organizations. Mr. Larry Beasley of Vancouver has accepted an invitation from the RUP to be Planner in Residence for 2013. He has extensive experience with the City of Vancouver and as a planning consultant working around the world. A number of events are scheduled for the week of March 18 to 22 or 23, 2012. These events will include a public lecture on:Wednesday, March 20, 2013, Roxy Theatre, 7:00 pm

Mr. Beasley will speak from a Canadian context, with examples and experiences from Canada. For further details contact either the College of Geography and Planning at
the University of Saskatchewan or James Perkins.

JANUARY 2013

How Do We Make Great Neighbourhoods Better?

The New Year is a time of taking stock of the year behind and planning for the year ahead.
A common theme to the year behind, and the year ahead, is neighbourhood change. Varsity View has been working on a Local Area Plan (LAP) with the city of Saskatoon and the city itself is exploring Neighbourhood Infill. Meanwhile, the University of Saskatchewan has been busy building new residences in the College Quarter development.

Preserving the character and feel of our neighbourhoods has consistently been a priority for residents. I am proud of the work done by the LAP Land Use and Infill subcommittee to establish where development should happen and identify guiding principles as to how it should be implemented. The LAP document is on track to be completed this year.

A public workshop on Neighbourhood Level Infill Development was held December 4th for all Saskatoon residents. Led by Brook McIIroy and SK Arc consulting firms, they are preparing recommendations for the City as to how to direct infill in a positive manner and recommend pilot projects. This will include Garage and Garden Suites, which I’m sure will be of interest to Varsity View and Grosvenor Park residents. The draft recommendations
will be presented to the public in mid-February, so I urge you to make your voice heard in this process.

Another significant development in the Varsity View and Grosvenor Park area is the College Quarter development. Building continues ahead and your community association has been
meeting regularly with the U of S representatives to give feedback and make suggestions for improvement. We are scheduled to meet again with the representatives at ourFebruary meeting (Feb. 13th, 7 pm @ Brunskill School) to give suggestions to the current plan for College Quarter.

In all of these processes, it is the active engagement of residents that makes improvements for all of us. Your thoughts and ideas in the early stages of each of these projects have a huge impact on the final outcomes – complaints afterward are too late. Please come out to the public meetings and stay tuned to the VVCA website as we work to make great neighbourhoods better!

FALL 2012:

Varsity View – A Neighbourhood of Vibrance, Change.

I’m proud to share that the Varsity View Community continues to show its energy and dynamic nature in finding new solutions to building a strong community.

The Varsity View Local Area Plan, a ‘blue print’ for future growth had a very successful first year writing phase and now involves detailed input from community stakeholders like you. This innovative ‘participatory’ planning has produced draft documents on cycling and transportation, infill and other maters of interest to residents. You can catch up on the discussion here: vvcasaskatoon.com and watch for notices of new meetings this fall.

Varsity View continues to advocate for effective Infill Guidelines that will shape the revitalization of our neighbourhood. Issues such as garage and garden suites, densification,
and heritage preservation will no doubt play a role in Saskatoon’s civic election this October. I urge you to speak to the candidates in your area about your concerns and make your voice heard.

And while on the subject of being heard, election years are great reminders to get involved. Everyone of every age has something to contribute to our community – sports, activities,
classes, and gardening all add to the richness of a community.

VVCA is currently looking for committed volunteers to maintain a key resource – the hockey rink at Brunskill. As well, we need a soccer coordinator in order to be able to
provide the program for U6-U10 children during the fall/ winter of 2012 and the spring of 2013. Please let us know if you can help in either way.

One big change to Varsity View programs this year is our Code of Conduct policy for participants and their families. Based on the principle, “be a fan, not a fanatic,” we remind
participants and/or parents that respect of others is an essential lesson we learn and (show to young eyes) in our sports and activities. This Code of Conduct reminds our coaches, volunteers, coordinators and families to treat each other in a respectful manner – a cornerstone of any community.

Best wishes as you return to your fall routines and happy harvest.

SPRING 2012:

Varsity View continues to be a dynamic and exciting neighbourhood to live in. I’d like to share with you a few of the interesting projects going on in Varsity View.

The consultation phase of the Varsity View Local Area Plan (LAP) has completed. Over the past year, sessions on road maintenance, safety, parking, heritage and the College Quarter development attracted a lot of interest and comments from residents. By far the most well-attended session was the Infill Development workshop – clearly this is a significant issue in our historic neighbourhood.

Many speakers at the Infill Development workshop recognized the importance of newly built homes and multi-family buildings matching the character of their street in many ways – setback, garage location, size, orientation, and architectural features, to name a few. As we learned in the workshop, the City of Saskatoon currently has no mechanism to ensure new or renovated houses are “wellmannered” and reflective of the streetscape. It is my belief that these alterations around our homes should exemplify best architectural and building practices as opposed to what is cheap, easy, and detracting from common character. Having worked on this issue for several years prior to the LAP process, I hold dear to the simple maxim that any change in a streetscape should provide, “a net benefit to the community” such that new homes enhance the nature and aesthetics of what is already a great neighbourhood to live in. We should expect that, as each house in our community is updated or upgraded, it adds to the beauty of its street and thereby neighbouring homes as well.

Work has now begun to articulate the collective vision of Varsity View residents into a permanent document. The next step will be the writing process, as our Planning and Development Branch consultants from the City of Saskatoon evaluate feedback from the community. A number of public LAP meetings will be held in the Fall and New Year to share drafts of the document.
Ensuring our neighbourhood is desirable for youth, Varsity View has purchased an addition to the upgraded playground in President Murray park and will add on the new section late this year. The Park has become a ‘destination park’ for many people and another benefit to our community. Thank you to the volunteers who have helped make this happen!

Thank you for your continued support of VVCA activities and events.

James Perkins, President

WINTER 2011:

As we reach the holiday season, it’s time to reflect on what has happened during the past year and to make plans for the upcoming year.

The Varsity View Local Area Plan process is still underway. Consultations have been completed, and the report is being written in stages. LAP meetings are being scheduled immediately after VVCA executive meetings, which take place on the third Wednesday of every month at 6:30 pm in the Library at Brunskill School. Community residents are invited to participate in both sets of meetings. We always welcome new volunteers for VVCA, and we encourage everyone to provide commentary about the LAP process.

As reported in the last newsletter, VVCA has purchased an addition to the upgraded playground in President Murray park. Unfortunately, the ground froze before installation of the new section, so children of all ages will have to wait until spring to play on it. New benches, honouring the major donors to the playground, are to be installed at the same time.

VVCA cooperated with Nutana CA in hosting the third annual Pumpkins in the Park Festival in Rotary Park, on November 1, 2011. Thanks to the hard work of community volunteers, it was once again a great success, with several hundred people bringing pumpkins to be lighted and enjoying hot dogs and hot chocolate.

Registration for winter programs will take place on January 17th, 2012 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. At that time, previous Varsity View Bishop Murray Community Gardeners (VVBMCG) are invited to sign up for the 2012 gardening season. A sign up date for new gardeners will take place in late April or early May.

We are once again planning a fundraising social at Louis. It will take place on Saturday, March 31, 2012. Come enjoy an evening of socializing and music with other community members!

And last, but certainly not least, we have a new website! Many thanks to Paige Goebel and Roger Williamson for its creation and upkeep. Please visit us at vvcasaskatoon.com.